Jurisdiction Gazettes

Recent Judgments

“It seems to me that, the restriction of the grounds on which a divorce may be granted to the solely `fault based’ grounds set out in section 19 of the Marriage Registration Ordinance, is alien to our traditional laws which allowed for divorce to be granted on the ground of the breakdown of a marriage or upon consensus – vide: section 32 of the Kandyan Marriage and Divorce Act No. 44 of 1952, as amended and sections 27 and 28 of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act No. 13 of 1951, as amended together with the provision under Islamic Law for a divorce by mutual consent [Mubarat]. Yet, it appears that, these initially alien ideas based on European theological values which were introduced by the colonial powers, have embedded themselves into the value system of this country during the time Ceylon [as Sri Lanka then was] was governed by these colonial powers and persist unchanged, to this day and, indeed, are often espoused as our very own traditional values….”